Research Community

Dr Keeling is Research Leader at RAND Europe, where her primary role is Research Manager of the Centre for Evidence for the Armed Forces Community. Prior to joining RAND, she worked in academia. Mary is a Chartered Psychologist who has worked in the field of military psychology since 2010, both in the UK and the US. Using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches, her research has aimed to understand the psychosocial impact of military service on military personnel, Veterans, and Service-connected families. To date, Mary's research has focused on four broad areas: military to civilian transition; romantic relationships and military families; mental health stigma and help-seeking; and the psychosocial impact of Service-connected physical injuries. 

Dr Moira Bailey is a part time Lecturer, freelance Consultant and Researcher at the Robert Gordon University. Her interest in Veteran research came about as a result of her being a member of the Veteran family - her late husband was a Royal Navy Veteran who had mental helath issues arising from his service. Her son also is a Navy Veteran. She was recently a member of the team which produced an independent report commissioned in 2022 by the Office of Veterans’ Affairs to explore the potential of improving female Veterans' access to support services. She is currently working on two projects for different Veteran charities to produce in depth evaluation reports. Moira is also interested in pursing further research in the female Veteran space as well as exploring the experiences of Veterans' carers. 

James Glen is a serving British Army late-entry officer and former Warrant Officer in the Scots Guards, as well as a second-year PhD student at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU). He is pursuing a Business Management doctoral program within ENU’s Military Research, Education & Public Engagement department, focusing on the career transition of British Army Service Leavers from military life to civilian employment. This research aims to challenge the Armed Forces’ narrow emphasis on immediate employment as the only measure of successful reintegration. The argument for defining transition success encompasses the development of sustainable career trajectories aligned with the service leavers’ identities, values, and long-term goals. This opportunity will blend operational experience with scholarly research on military strategy, public engagement, and the impact of political and international decisions on the Armed Forces, allowing James to contribute innovative insights and leadership to both military and academic communities.

The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is the leading civilian UK centre of excellence for military health research providing much-needed evidence on the health and well-being of Serving and ex-Serving personnel and their families. KCMHR’s research relates to conflict and health, occupational psychiatry, personnel issues and social policy. Their research is conducted in four key areas, Serving personnel, ex-Serving personnel, military families (including those of ex-Serving personnel) and interventions.

Linda Slapakova is a Senior Analyst at RAND where she leads work on the Defence workforce and Armed Forces Community. Her work cuts across personnel policy (particularly understanding future personnel policy challenges, incentivisation, career and talent management) and understanding the experiences and support needs of Veterans and military families. In the latter category, her recent projects have focused on understanding the financial stability of military families, the lived experience of military-to-civilian transition among Veteran cohorts with protected or minority characteristics, and implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant. She is a primarily qualitative researcher and her research interests mainly sit within the field of military sociology and applied policy research.

Lucy is a part-time PhD student with Edinburgh Napier University whilst also serving as an officer in the Royal Air Force. She has a background in Human Resource Management having previously studied cross-cultural competence in British Service Personnel serving in multinational NATO units. Her current research focuses on the role of identity loss in career transition for veterans working with the prison services with the ultimate hope of improving the career transition process for all veterans.